Monday, September 26, 2005

The alleged crimes of Joseph E. Duncan are so foul, so unbelievingly twisted and evil, that people who hear of them are left speechless, at least for a good, long moment. Some of those people then shrug it off and go about their day; news is just news to some, after all. Yet others, those who are interested, disgusted or just plain nosy enough to have a need to know more, those people who discover even a fraction more than what is reported in mainstream media, have been caught unprepared for the wholly malevolent, atrocious reality of "Uncle Jet."

Many who fell into this latter group proffered theories involving child pornography rings when recovered evidence details relating to video cameras and computer peripherals were made public shortly after his arrest in Coeur d'Alene Idaho. The forums at Websleuths are an excellent example of this; it is one of the finer "True Crime" websites around. And Steve Huff's superb Dark Side blog delved into this as well, very early on. Much of what was written about the "child pornography" angle- at the time, only rumors and hearsay- concerning videos which Joseph Duncan made, were tentative. These rumors were often derided for their sheer sensationalism. And while I can't really fault many who did the deriding, I did strive to assess this information from an analytical bearing, and always concluded that none of the message board posts or blog entries I read concerning the rumors about Joseph Duncan's videos were made in a sensationalist manner.

Perhaps that objectivism was apparent to a few who seemingly had "insider information," because three people with no connection to each other recounted the same information to me when I contacted them. All three supplied more vivid and specific details than had been described (quite vaguely) in message board posts and blog entries- including this blog- since Dylan's remains were located in Montana. And regardless of my interpretation of their message- whatever their motivation- I am thankful for their honest and detailed accounts of the video footage in question.

I am inserting this warning before the following descriptions of some of the videos in question. The following is disgusting, vile, and probably more than most care to know. You have been warned.

Joseph Duncan made movies of himself sexually molesting and raping these children, starting very soon after he slaughtered their older brother, their mother and their mother's boyfriend.

Joseph Duncan made movies of Dylan hanging by his neck from a rope or cord, from a crossbeam in that cabin in Lolo National forest.

Joseph Duncan filmed the ongoing hanging of little Dylan, the video shows Duncan bringing him to the brink of death- only to lift him up to regain consciousness and let him hang once more... Duncan getting off on this scene the whole time.

Joseph Duncan then choreographed a scene in which he forced the traumatized Shasta to further degrade and harm her half-dead brother by making her drag him by the rope around his neck- through the campfire.

Joseph Duncan then murdered Dylan with a shotgun, and used his hatchet on his little body. Joseph Duncan filmed himself forcing Shasta to place her beloved brother's body parts in a campfire.

Later, Joseph Duncan filmed Shasta being forced to pick her brother's charred body parts out of the cooled ashes of the campfire. They were then placed in a culvert, to be washed out- or so Duncan thought- with the rain.

I can say I was sickened to hear all this early on after Duncan's apprehension, but to finally have these details confirmed by law enforcement nails it home in such a monstrous manner... We want to believe rumors are just that. In this case, the rumors flying around early on were pretty accurate. Recently, Justice Mag was able to get confirmation on these videos by multiple sources in Law Enforcement. This confirmation came as news broke that Duncan could face child pornography charges.

This revelation has made me physically ill, sad, angry and depressed. I have avoided writing about it until now, ten days later. My own little boy is 6. I was seeing Dylan when I kissed my son goodnight, while I helped him with his homework, when he played in the yard with his little sister...

Readers, this is why I concentrate this Cellar blog case on the sick monster that is Joseph Duncan, and not on the victims who suffered horribly at his hand. One can only compartmentalize so much; surely other bloggers better than I am able. I do need to let some of this frustration and anger out. I suppose living right near a firing range has its advantages.

That an entity with 46 chromosomes could do something like this. Could actually plan this and carry it out. This scrawny, nasty, scheming little scumbag. It chills my soul. What else did Joseph Duncan do between the time he rented the Jeep on April 15 in St. Paul, MN until the time he began stalking the Groene/McKenzie house in Coeur d'Alene, ID around May 13th? Missoula, MT and surrounding areas are now suspected as a "stalking" ground. But where else?

Was he also visiting and/or staying with someone who gave him moral and financial support?

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Which brings me to motive: Why was Joseph Duncan making these movies? Who was he making them for? I doubt he made them for himself. He was spinning down the ol' crapper hole from the moment he decided to slaughter Slade and Brenda Groene and Mark McKenzie in order to kidnap Shasta and Dylan. I don't think for one moment that he ever expected he'd be able to hide away someplace and while away his years enjoying his filthy movies.

He was on the run- he had cut ties with local friends and close neighbors. He wrote bad checks for bail and his rent, took off on said bail, left his supposedly beloved cats to starve in his apartment, rented a vehicle in another city, another state, he went on a stalker's dream buying spree at Wal*Mart... and simply disappeared. Well, except for calling his doctor friend Richard M. Wacksman on April 15. The same day he posted the following to his blog,

"I have to carry out my orders or a lot worse than just me dying could happen."

"my reaction is to strike out toward the perceived source of my misery, society. My intent is to harm society as much as I can, then die."

So was the filming of these atrocities part of that affront to society, and also fulfilling an order?

Is this why he called Dr. Wacksman on July 1? Was he reporting in on his "orders?" Did he need more money? He sent a photo during this call. How touching. Only, we don't really know what the photo detailed. And even though Duncan and Shasta were spotted only about 10 hours after this phone call, in the early hours of July 2- Dr. Wacksman never told authorities about his phone call until the following WEEK! Dr. Wacksman claims he "yelled" at Duncan for running from the law, and that Duncan then hung up- cutting the call to 4 minutes. Takes all of maybe 15 seconds to yell at someone for running from the law... I wonder what was said in the remaining 3 minutes, 45 seconds?

Readers, that odor you smell is real, not a sensory manifestation. This pediatrician, former MeritCare physician and clinical professor of medicine at the University of North Dakota who swore that "Jet" was a "changed man" at his 1997 sentence review board, the same doctor who supported Joseph Duncan to the humiliation of his own family and character, was the same doctor who loaned Joseph Duncan about $6,500.00 to help defray attorney fees shortly before Duncan's April 5 court appearance for the molestation of a 6-year old boy and attempted molestation of an 8-year old boy in Detroit Lakes, MN about 9 months earlier.

If the doc honestly felt Duncan was such a "changed man," what the freakin' dilly-o did he think supported these charges from Detroit Lakes? Did he think the molestation fairy did it? Was Joseph Duncan that good in the sack (or San Francisco coffeehouse "glory hole") that one could overlook these "shortcomings?" Was it all worth it, doc? Why don't you ask your kids? Those kids whose lives you were so willing to risk by taking in the likes of sexual psychopath Joseph Duncan even when the review board was adamantly opposed to it.

Arghhh! The level of stupidity which the well-off men who were "close" to Duncan shared is uncanny. Of course, it could have been something else. Fargo businessman and "entrepreneur" Joe Crary is another friend of "Jet." He gave Duncan the $15K on April 5, after Duncan wrote a bad check to cover his bail. Duncan called Crary after posting bail, asking for (or demanding?) money to cover his bad check. As Crary tells it, he was only giving Joseph Duncan $15,000.000 as a favor. To help him out. Just like Crary claims he has done for "others." How come we haven't heard from any "others?" Maybe they're too busy skulking around back of the public restrooms and off the wooded trails in the Fargo parks to discuss it. Oh, I meant to write "bike trails." That IS what Crary called them, isn't it? Nice metaphor. Kinda like "coffeehouse" only more... rugged.

These gentlemen, while it's their right to avoid the media and hide out if they wish, don't they realize how sinister and twisted their ties to Joseph Duncan appear? Their names and connections to Duncan are all over the court documents, the media; their emotional and financial support of this dirtbag is clear. Neither one came forward on his own to 'fess up to any relationship with Joseph Duncan when this all went down- Detroit Lakes PD sussed out the Crary connection by accessing Duncan's bank records (that $15K windfall). And Fargo law enforcement tracked down Wacksman about that April 15th phone call. Not to mention his July 1 phone call, which he didn't report until the FBI was breathing down his neck. A week after the fact.

If these men are innocent of any collusion with Duncan, innocent of any support for his alleged felonies, then I think they need to make that perfectly clear. As I see it, they both have so much to answer for.

The FBI and foreign law enforcement are daily closing in on child porn purveyors and their clients. I hope that any movies Duncan was able to upload and share, if that was his intent, have been tracked. Joseph Duncan sought approval and validation from many people in his life; to the point that it became who he was. And so I do not believe that these videos he made were only for himself. Follow the money.

13 comments:

It's time for this case to crack wide open. I agree with ya, Capt'n. The snuff was made for someone else. Following the money is the logical answer. Whether Wacksman & Crary are the ones that encouraged the making of snuff, or not, is up for debate. They were JET's patsies for money, always. Something still tells me that a Panda man with a plethora of money may be involved.

As you know I've held the belief that althought Duncan may have commited the crime alone he is/was associated with a snuff ring and his video equipment and computer was for the purpose of recording and uploading those images.

Capt:What can one say. I'm glad to see you added the warning. I spent a good part of last night tossing around, trying not to imagine what Shasta and Dylan suffered (I was unsuccessful). As much as it hurts to delve into the painful reality of what one human can do to another...what other way is there to help eradicate these types of people?Once again, I am glad to know people like you and your fellow sleuthers aren't burying your head in the sand and changing the channel to "Desperate Housewives".

Knowing what the police and FBI know about Wacksman, have they questioned any of this pediatrician's patients? Has the state been called in to speak with his own children? If the answer is no, then why the hell not. I don't understand why this man is not living under a microscope? Maybe he is, and the public is just not aware. Does anyone know?

My exact thoughts from the beginning... thank you for putting it into better understood words. Everyone thouhgt I was nuts for thinking it was like this.

2 and 2 still make 4 and there just isn't any way around that. If you look at Duncan's actions and the equipment he used, it is all perfectly clear... and speaks much louder than anyone's words. Snuff flics have been around for a very long time. I have seen ads for them in filth mags (don't ask... part of a really bad job I had once). Duncan knew big money and possibly blackmail when he saw it. It was no problem for him when it was part of his own fantasies anyway. His masochistic (sp?) tendancies began when he was 15 and burning kids with cigarettes... probably even before that. But always pain and burning.

I agree with your 'orders' theory too. I'm sure he was told, "you want money... show me the flics". He may have used Dylan to pay off his debt. And as for Crary and Wacksman not reporting to LE when all this began and giving their information, only confirms their involvement in a bad way... other wise they would have nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

There is NOTHING anyone could do to Duncan that would be deserving enough and bad enough.

I can't even begin to imagine Shasta's fear being forced to live with Duncan after what he did to poor innocent Dylan. God please have Mercy on her and erase those memories. She would have been safer living with a grizzly bear in the woods.

Thank you again for all of your hard work in this. I had to back off for a little bit, I was like you... I was seeing Dylan, Shasta, and Duncan everywhere. Sometimes it's just too much.

I am very sad that our justice system is so lax in many areas... If the judge in Mn actually reads what his briefs say and this guy gets locked up for longer.

I believe people can change but in the case of Duncan and others like him they should not be given the oppurtunity. When you get to that level you cannot run the risk. Too many people are hurt.

Too me this case has some of the same characteristics as the JonBenet case. I firmly believe she was killed, on accident, in some sort of child pornography ritual. Too me it sounds like Duncan was involved in a ring that gets off on things as described above.

What I fail to understand is how someone like the Dr and Crary can withhold info let alone help a monster like Duncan. The involvement is there.

I'm sure you hit the " Nail on the Head". Why would anyone, who is not involved in this kind of truly horrendous stuff, give money the likes of $15,000.00 to a child molester, which allows him to roam and stalk society and engage in these inhuman acts. I know if you follow the money and you find these recordings they will point to the financial backers of this monster. Let the father have a go at them alone and see what he comes up with!

being ive lived in st paul my entire life it gives me the willies knowing that sick s.o.b. lived here. minnesota's laws dealing with sex offenders are downright disgusting, 5 time convicted molesters serving 18 MONTHS, not YEARS. If this guy isnt the poster child for the death penalty i dont know who is. Or maybe they should release him into general population and let the convicts deal with him. I still cant bring myself to watch the video,,i dont think i could handle it, i have 4 sons of my own and i cant imagine anyone hurting em like that. Id lose it.

Not sure why this window is in Hangul (Korean). Anyhow, I believe the hype on this one, I was the victim/witness/hero to a grissly murder at age eight, my uncle was making a point of what would happen to us three hungry angels if we were to tell anybody about the "training" he was doing with us, seems our third decided to threaten to tell, so my uncle took us camping, he then took us out to the woods for some more "training" during which time he used a rather large hunting knife to permantly silence our third, analy. it was quite painful to witness but at the age of eight, how much voice does one have, especially in the late 1960's. My uncle had us "train" with him for a little while while we waited for our next orders, he had us then dig a hole naked while he pissed on us, we rolled the body into the hole, covered it and then walked back to the camp site. my uncle ran the knife up our cracks to futher send the message home. Needless to say, I would only have to endure a few more years of this training, some great boy took the opportunity to silence this beast and send him to hell in a sealed coffin, I sure would like to meet this unknown hero, if he's still alive... I'm still alive.

Your numerous references to things like San Francisco, glory holes, and public restroom encounters seem to suggest that you equate pedophilia with homosexuality. If that is the case, you need to check your facts and then check your self. Such beliefs are born of ignorance. Despite the fact that I am gay, I find the casual anonymous sexual situations you allude to as disgusting as you do. But to equate them with the things this monster did to these children is way over the line. Gay men are no more and no less likely to be abusers of children than straight men.